Darren Wilson is 6'4" tall and weighs around 210 pounds. I offer these facts so that you have some perspective as you read through some of his impressions of Mike Brown, and his descriptions of the 'disadvantage' he found himself in.
Wilson's interview the day after
Here are some excerpts from Darren Wilson's statement the day after he shot Michael Brown. What a tale he wove!
He had my gun...
WILSON: "I drew my firearm, I pointed at him. . ."stop I'm going to shoot you is what I ordered him to get on the ground." He said, "you're too much of a fuckin' pussy to shoot me" and grabbed my gun. When he grabbed my gun, he twisted it, pointed at me and
into my hip, pelvic area.
Q: How did he grab it?
WILSON: With his hand over the top. I'm not sure which hand he grabbed it with.
Q: One hand or two hands or. .
WILSON: I think one but then I don't know.
Q: Okay.
WILSON: Um, I know his hand was around my trigger finger which was inside the trigger guard. Um, and when he grabbed it he pushed it down and angled it to where it was like this in my hip.
Q: Okay, and-and just for the purpose of the recording, can you just explain what
you're demonstrating right now?
WILSON: The, my firearm was in his control around my hand pointed directly into my hip.
Q: Okay, you're-you're holding the gun in hand. Okay, and your right hand is holding the gun and the gun is now being pointed into your left hip.
Brown was in control...
Q: Okay. Go ahead and continue.
WILSON: At that point, I was guaranteed he was going to shoot me. That's what I thought his-his goal was. He had already manipulated I was not in control of the gun. I was able to tilt myself a little bit and push it down and away towards the side of my hip and kinda lock my wrist into my leg to where he couldn't get it back up 'cause I did not have enough strength to come up and force him off of me. He was-he had me completely overpowered while I was sittin' in the car.
Brown charged after he ran away
This takes place after Wilson shoots Brown in the car. Do not miss his description of how he perceived Michael Brown:
WILSON: He kept running and then eventually he stopped in this area somewhere. When he stopped, he turned, looked at me, made like a grunting noise and had the most intense aggressive face I've ever seen on a person. When he looked at me, he then did like the hop...you know like people do to start running. And, he started running at me. During his first stride, he took his right hand put it under his shirt and into his waistband. And I ordered him to stop and get on the ground again. He didn't; I fired, a, multiple shots. After I fired the multiple shots I paused for a second, yelled at him to get on the ground again, he was still in the same state. Still charging hands still in his waistband, hadn't slowed down. I fired another set of shots. Same thing, still running at me hadn't slowed down, hands still in his waistband. He gets about eight to ten feet away, a he's still coming at me in the same way. I fired more shots. One of those, however many of them hit on him in the head and he went down right there. When he went down his hand was still under his, his right hand was still under his body looked like it was still in his waistband.
Did he mention that his right hand was in his waistband enough?
From another section:
Q: Right? And, what?s his posture at that point?
WILSON: Very aggressive. Um, he is I don't really know how to describe it. Um, he turns, I looked at his face. It was just like intense. It was, I've never seen anybody look that, for lack of a better words, crazy. I've never seen that. I mean, it was very aggravated, um aggressive, hostile. Just, you couldn't, you could, you could tell he was lookin' through ya. There was nothin? he was seeing. Um, he had kind of, he did like that hop and started running and when he did he was kinda leaning forward a little bit and then right as he started his hand went in his pants.
Q: Okay. And, you said his hand went in his pants and what hand are we talkin? about?
WILSON: His right hand.
The Grand Jury: What a difference a month makes
From Wilson's Grand Jury testimony on September 16th, located at the end of the transcript.
Wilson's first impression: Hulk Hogan
WILSON: ...and when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is like a five-year old holding onto Hulk Hogan.
Q: Holding onto a what?
WILSON: Hulk Hogan. That's how big he felt and how small I felt just from grasping his arm.
(Note: Remember, Wilson is 6'4" and weighs 210 lbs)
Why he went for his gun in the car
WILSON: I felt that another one of those punches in my face [from Brown] could knock me out or worse. I mean it was, he's obviously bigger than I was, and the stronger and I've already taken two to the face and I didn't think I would, the third one could be fatal if he hit me right.
See the photo at the top of the page for the impact of those "two to the face."
Brown's "charge" toward Wilson
WILSON: At this point it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I was shooting at him.
There's more, but these are the highlights. My initial impression was that Brown got scarier and scarier in Wilson's mind until he was almost magical.
Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson expressed it like this:
https://twitter.com/7im/status/537126065169121280
Which sums it up well.
The entire release is online here. It will take me awhile to read through everything, but if you decide you want to read them and see something interesting, leave a comment here.
